Do not fall for those outrageous claims some body building magazines have on their cover. They just want you to buy their magazine. Ditch those magazines with unrealistic claims.

Start reading some books and talk to someone who knows what they are doing; like a trainer.

To gain muscle mass you have to force your body to do it. You force your body to gain muscle by adding stress to it. The most common methods include; increase reps, perform more sets, increase weight, and decrease rest periods between sets.

Other methods include the pre-exhaust. With this method, you do an isolation exercise and move right to a compound movement without any rest in between. Do static holds these really stress the muscle. During the exercise hold the muscle at its highest contraction.

A strip set stresses the muscles. After you warm up perform three sets with no rest periods. Decrease the weight in each set. These are a few examples on how to stress the muscle to produce muscle gains. Do your workouts in a progressive order to build muscle mass.

If you just want to tone and tighten your muscles increase your reps, decrease sets, and vary your exercises. Each muscle group should be trained twice a week. Do fewer sets of many different exercises.

If you want to increase strength, increase the weight. Each muscle group should be trained every seven days. Do multiple sets of each exercise.

If you want to bulk up, you need to shock the muscles. Frequently change all the variables- sets, reps, and rest. Set up a variable schedule to train. Another way to shock the muscles is to perform many sets for a time then do only single sets for a week or so.

These are just a few training tips to guide you in your workout routine. Your diet and your rest periods are important too. Follow a sensible bodybuilder’s diet and get plenty of rest. Allow 24 hours between workouts. Add some aerobic activity to your program to burn fat. Sleep eight hours a night if you can get it.